Wednesday Bible Study- Zephaniah

Introduction:

Zephaniah’s ministry is during the reign of King Josiah somewhere between the years of 640-609 B.C.

The time in history is important back the because a major turning point or mark in history for Israel, specifically the Southern region of Judah, was when they were taken captive by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

When we read these warnings spoken through the prophets we can see that some of the warnings were fulfilled during the 586 B.C. event, but some of them will not be fulfilled until the 2nd coming of Jesus.

We will see this towards the end of Zephaniah.

Let’s open up to Zephaniah and take a look at it.

Zephaniah 1 shows the sovereignty of God above the false gods of the world.

As I was reading through this, something that stood out to me was verse 5 that says, “I will cut off those who bow down on their roofs to worship the starry host.

This stood out to me because we just started our Bible reading plan for this year which begins in Genesis.

When we read the creation story we see that God created the stars and put them in place for a reason.

God put them there and they are beautiful at night.

We can enjoy the stars at night and be amazed at God’s beautiful design without worshipping the stars.

It makes me upset when I hear people say things like, “You can’t do that because you are flirting with sinning against God.”

Astrology is defined as the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs terrestrial events by their positions and aspects.

People actually worship the stars to find answers to questions and life.

How many of you think that sounds crazy, and how many of you would say that we can enjoy these things without doing so in a bad way.

Another one is the rainbow.

We know that God placed the rainbow in the sky as a picture of His promise to never again flood the earth.

God created the beautiful rainbow, yet the LGBT stole the rainbow to represent their way of life.

The rainbow is not a sign of perversion but of God’s beauty.

As we move on, God continues to warn against the dangers of turning away from Him to worship other things.

Verse 6 says that the Lord will cut off from this place those who turn their back from following the Lord and neither seek nor inquire of Him.

Passages like this show us that the “Once saved always saved” mentality is false.

We cannot except Jesus and live the way we want because we can never loose our salvation.

To turn your back on God you had to at one time being looking to Him.

It is so important that we make it our goal to never look at anyone or anything else before or above the Lord for direction or wisdom.

He wants His people to look to Him and He will answer us.

Zephaniah prophesied during the rule of King Josiah who was a good king.

We can read about him in 2 Kings 22-23 and also in 2 Chronicles 34-35.

He got rid of all the false gods that were worshipped and did everything to turn the hearts of the people back to God.

2 Kings 23:25 “25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”

He did all of this beginning at the old age of 8 years old.

The book of the Law was also found during his time and was read.

The Bible says that he mourned after hearing the Law read because he knew the nation went against God.

This was a time when the nation turned their backs on God and did not inquire of Him for anything.

So, guess what, disaster was going to come on the land.

We as a nation have also turned our backs on God, but as we will see in the rest of this book, God will save those who look to Him from the disaster that is to come.

Verse 9 says that on that day I will punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold.

Can anyone explain what that means?

Let’s flip over to 1 Samuel 5:1-5 The people who were avoiding stepping on the threshold were doing so in honor of the false god Dagon.

Verse 12 says that God will search out Jerusalem with lamps to punish those who are complacent.

How many of you know that light has a way of exposing things that are hidden?

John 3:20 “20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

I truly believe that God has a way of bringing things out that are hidden.

If you believe that there is a lot of corruption in our country or world pray that God can expose that because I believe He will.

Finally, verse 18 says that neither their silver or gold will be able to save them from God’s wrath.

There are going to be a lot of people on judgement day who stand before God thinking that their accomplishments on earth can help them get to Heaven.

It is only through Jesus that we get there.

Zephaniah 2 begins by showing that there is hope for those of us who follow God’s ways and look to Him.

Verses 3 tells us that if we seek the Lord, do what He commands of us, seek righteousness, and seek humility, we may be spared from the disaster that will come on the land.

I believe that whatever our trust is in that will dictate our future.

If we put all of our trust in our finances then our future hope will be there.

If we put our hope and trust in the Government that our future will rest in their hands.

If we put our hope and trust in Jesus then our future will be in His hands.

I think back to the Passover event when God made a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians with the blood on the doorposts.

He will make a distinction between those who serve Him and those who serve the world.

In verse 7 says that God will take from the enemies of Israel and give it to God’s people.

I love reading the stories through the Bible where God brought victory to the Israelites and then they carried off everything the enemy left behind.

I believe that not only will God bring us complete victory over the enemy, but He will give us back what he has taken.

We will see this in its fullest when Jesus does away win sin and Satan for good and we are reunited with loved ones.

The rest of chapter 2 shows God’s sovereignty over the rest of the nations of the world.

There is no nation that can overpower God or stop His future plans.

Zephaniah 3 is the turning point of this entire book.

Verses 1-7 are still warnings to the enemies of God.

Verse 8 is the pivoting point.

God says to wait for Him and watch what He does.

He says that He will gather all the nations of the world and pour out His wrath on them.

This sounds to me like the battle of Armageddon when God brings the nations together to destroy Israel , but He supernaturally intervenes and destroys them all.

God says He will be the one who stands up and testifies.

Could you imagine God Himself being the one who stands up to defend you against your enemies?

All the possible false accusations and lies will mean nothing because He is omniscient— He is all-knowing.

Can you imagine God standing up to defend you.

He is the best lawyer that you could ever have.

Verse 12-13

They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid.

This is a great picture of Psalm 23 that says that God will prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies.

If we can get to the point of knowing that the Lord fights our battles and if He is for us no one can be against us, we can live a life of freedom and joy.

Zephaniah 3:17 “17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.””

When our hope and trust is in Jesus we have nothing to fear.

Can you picture the Lord singing over those He loves.

I think of my sister’s testimony, along with so many of us, that when we turn from darkness into His marvelous light that He rejoices over us.

This is how much He loves us.

Conclusion:

God is sovereign over all the nations of the world and the false gods.

The wicked will be punished, but the righteous will be saved.

God blesses those who repent and turn to hIm.